Why Smokers Smoke
Why do people want to smoke? Dr. Heller, Director of the National Cancer Institute, U.S. Public Health Service, said, "Nobody has ever contended that smoking is good for one from a health point of view."
No, they never have! The normal function of the human lungs is drastically impaired by smoking! Not only does smoking prohibit the giving off of poisons which should normally be exhaled through the respiratory system, but it takes in heavy chemicals and tars, placing them on the walls of the lungs, where they are absorbed into the blood stream. This means your physical health is being impaired — REGARDLESS of the arguments of "long-lived" men who smoked until they were 90!
After the cancer scare, cigarette manufacturers tried to successfully remove the "tars" from the cigarette smoke. They tried to produce an effective "filtering process" that would completely remove the "harmful tars" from the smoke. These tars were found to have been carcinogenic in certain rats, and therefore were linked as a possible irritant which would produce cancer in the human lungs.
Bur! If the cigarette manufacturers were to design the "perfect" filter, NO SMOKE WOULD GET THROUGH — THEN WHY SMOKE?
Dr. Heller was asked, "If you had a perfect filter you really wouldn't be smoking, would you?" To this he replied, "Taken to its ultimate conclusion, that's correct. With a perfect filter no smoke would get through — just hot air" (emphasis mine).
People assume smokers use the tobacco weed because they desire merely the effects of the nicotine — the drug contained in the tobacco leaf. But, the findings of the American Cancer Society prove otherwise!
Dr. Heller said, ". . . Apparently it's the tars that give him (the smoker) that sense of satisfaction" (emphasis mine).
With the inhalation of the tar-laden smoke, these tiny particles attach themselves to the cellular walls of the myriad tiny "bubbles" of membrane, or air pockets, in the lungs. Through the entire lungs an extensive system of capillaries constantly picks up the oxygen and quickly carries it to all parts of the body. The returning blood is supposed to carry waste material, which is then expelled through the lungs. These tars, affixing themselves to the walls of the lungs, are absorbed (chemically) into the blood stream. The actual "pleasure" derived by the smoker is the supplying of these tars, carrying nicotine and various chemicals, to every cell of his body!
I used to smoke. I KNOW all the arguments about why a person thinks he should go on smoking. I tried to use them all — and even tried to make up some original ones of my own.
But now, years later, I also know smoking is not only PHYSICALLY harmful, and now proved deadly dangerous, but that the DESIRE to smoke — the LUST for the smell of burning tobacco — the URGE to SATISFY the body and its carnal, physical desires, is a SPIRITUAL sin as well!
Since smoking is plainly and admittedly seeking gratification of the sensual, physical desires of the SELF — it violates the command of God against coveting, and against idolatry!
Smokers LUST for satisfaction. Perhaps you feel that's an "ugly" word! But it's TRUE! And, even if YOU are not a heavy smoker — you cannot argue around it, or reason it away, YOU KNOW IT IS LUST!
Your Bible says you should become "obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former LUSTS in your ignorance" (I Pet. 1:14).
Smoking a Double Sin
Smoking is a physical sin! Let's understand why.
Christ showed it was sin that had crippled the man at the pool called Bethesda, in Jerusalem. In healing the man, Jesus said, "SIN NO MORE"! (John 5:14) Healing, revealed your Savior, is the forgiveness of sin! (Matt. 9: 2-7) But what kind of sin?
Physical sin!
There are certain physical laws which God has set in motion. Those laws regulate your body, your health, your life! Take, for an example, the law of gravity. It is real — although you can't see it, you KNOW you'll get hurt if you violate it by a sudden fall! The penalty is physical pain and possible injury.
And so it is with your health! If you put wrong foods into your body, or even too much of the RIGHT foods, you SIN against your body — and there is a penalty exacted! In some cases, the penalty is only temporary — but in others, it may mean permanent injury, or death!
Smoking stands PROVED to be a definite HARM to the body, as well as a definite RISK of getting lung cancer!
But notice further. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price, therefore GLORIFY God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Cor. 6:19-20). Does it glorify God — honor God our Creator and the One who gives us every clean breath of air we breathe — are we being obedient to Him, serving Him, glorifying HIM when we lust for the smell of a burning weed?
God says, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or WHATSOEVER ye do, DO ALL to the glory of God"! (I Cor. 10:31) Far from glorifying God, the use of tobacco — IN ANY FORM — harms the body, and is offensive, not pleasing, to others around you! Your Bible shows such an act to be sin!
But there is ANOTHER sin involved!
Just as Dr. Heller said, a smoker can hardly claim he smokes to satisfy others! He does it, admittedly, to SATISFY THE SELF! It is a desire, a thirst for SELF-gratification. It is LUST!
It is the popular way, the "way of the crowd" to SATISFY the self! As the article already quoted said, ". . . It's the tars that give him that sense of satisfaction . . . They seem to be the important constituent in the satisfaction to the user" (emphasis mine).
But God demands of every Christian that they come out of this pleasure-mad, SELF-satisfying age! (Rev. 18:4; Rom. 12:2)
Your Bible describes today's citizen as a person who is a "lover" of HIS OWN SELF, MORE than a lover of God (II Tim. 3:2-4). But remember, Jesus plainly showed it was the attitude of the heart that was important — as well as the act itself! What is the attitude, the desire of one who lusts for the effects of tobacco? It is one of coveting, of inordinately desiring that which is harmful!
Paul sternly warned the Christians at Ephesus, "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, not covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" (Eph. 5:5). Notice it! Covetousness is also idolatry — putting an object in place of God! And James tells us if we break even ONE point we're guilty of all!
The evil desire of the mind — LUSTING after tobacco — becomes a matter of spiritual sin — of sin against character, as well as harm to the physical body!
Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews. showed how Moses chose to suffer the affliction with God's people rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb. 11:25). WHY? Because Moses knew that by choosing to forsake the temporary pleasures that seemed so desirable he could obtain that longer-lasting, satisfying HAPPINESS that lies on beyond. Those who seek after the temporary sensual PLEASURES are to howl for the miseries they reap! (James 5:1-5) Peter exhorted Christians NOT to go according to their former LUSTS in IGNORANCE, but to be as obedient children! (I Pet. 1:14) The Christian is commanded to turn away from the pleasure-seeking world! (Rev. 18:4)
Forsake All Pleasure?
Does this mean that God has designed that all Christians shall live unhappy, uneventful and devoid-of-pleasure lives? Of course not! Christ said He came not only to bring us life — but LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY! (John 10:10)
We were intended by the RULER of this universe to live happy, eventful, fruitful lives! There are many things which we may ENJOY through our senses. The proper enjoyment of the senses is not wrong — but right! But proper enjoyment builds up — it never dissipates! We derive pleasure from delicious healthful foods — we enjoy seeing beautiful things, we enjoy hearing beautiful music. We were intended to CULTIVATE and use our senses, but for the constructive purposes — not destructive! It is the UPBUILDING of our health and character for which we seek, not the tearing down — the destruction. God wants us to be happy and healthy!
The converted child of God has absolutely FORSAKEN his own way (Isa. 55:7) and has come to realize that the WAY of man is WRONG (Prov. 16:25). Then, after conforming with the conditions, the repentant sinner is PROMISED the Holy Spirit — which is the very nature of God. (Acts 2:38; II Pet. 1:4) If we call ourselves Christians, we're to GROW DAILY more like God (Matt. 5:48). Then, instead of seeking to please ourselves by temporary sensual pleasures which dissipate and injure, we are to forsake the degenerating habits, and give our lives over to God (Rom. 12:1). We are bought with a price (I Cor. 6:20), and are commanded to GLORIFY God in our physical bodies! Are you glorifying God with a cigarette in your mouth?
We should live in HARMONY with the laws God has set in motion — not go contrary to them. Physical as well as spiritual laws are included. After God has implanted within us that gift which we LACK to start us toward eternal life (Luke 11:13), He tells us WE ARE HIS TEMPLE! We have His Holy Spirit abiding within us — are bought with a price, and we literally BELONG to God!
Yes, You CAN Quit!
"Sonny," counseled the elderly man to his grandchild, "don't ever take up smoking!"
"But WHY, Grandpa?" asked the child, "YOU smoke!"
"I know it, I know it!" he snapped out, "but that's exactly why you should never start. I can't quit!"
Thousands have said the same thing. Many smokers would like to quit, but feel they are unable! God labels smoking as a SIN, and tells us, "Let not SIN therefore REIGN [rule] in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the LUSTS thereof" (Rom. 6:12). God has decreed that "SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU" (Rom. 6:14).
And by ordering that NO sin, regardless of what it may be, can "lord it over" you, God extends a definite, specific PROMISE to any person who really WANTS to quit!
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). GOD HAS OBLIGATED HIMSELF TO CLEANSE US FROM SMOKING when we repent, acknowledge our sin, and CALL ON HIM for the extra help we need!
YES, YOU CAN QUIT!
God says He'll HELP you quit — if you sincerely want to, and realize He commands you to! But always remember Lot's wife! Once God HAS intervened, as He has promised He would, and you have SUCCEEDED in rooting out the sin of smoking, don't ever turn to it again! "For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning" (II Pet. 2:20).
May God grant YOU will take action, and obey the laws He has given for our GOOD!